‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 19 ‘The Checklist’ Recap: Quotas

After the exposure of a dirty cop within their ranks, Internal Affairs continues to monitor the LAPD. The Rookie lays back while his peers head out to complete specific tasks under pressure. However, when a crime happens to a close friend, he skyrockets into action. Meanwhile, a lie told before entering the Police Force bites back at one of LAPD’s most brilliant officers, sending her straight to the Police Chief.

On Tuesday night’s episode of The Rookie, Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) works with Detective Kevin Wolfe to take down a sports car syndicate. Meanwhile, Officer Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson) faces the consequences of lying about her brother, a known criminal before enlisting. On patrol, Officers Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz), Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.), Tim Bradford (Eric Winter), and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) struggle to complete a set of specific arrests of particular crimes within 48 hours.

The Right Way

Having seven different types of arrests to make, Lucy gets frustrated. Not only did the task seem impossible, but it is also highly unattainable given the time limit. However, Tim encourages her, making sure that they have no idle moments. Despite the pressure she felt, Lucy lets a lady go free. Regardless of her illegal usage of her husband’s license plates, Lucy enables the lady to drive away as she and her family are in a tight spot. Fortunately, that case counted as an Ethical Dilemma, leaving her only six more to accomplish. As if fate smiled upon Lucy, she and Tim complete all six charges in one arrest. What first seemed like a road accident became multiple offense charges.

Identity Crisis

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Struggling with what his father taught him versus what he found out about his father, Jackson decided to take the job a little less seriously. Angela takes notice of Jackson’s actions, telling him to snap out of it. Despite Angela’s reprimand, Jackson continues on his cocky escapade until he almost kills a woman and her baby while in pursuit of a runaway suspect. As he clocked out, Jackson opens up to Lucy about his problem, but duty calls Lucy to go work overtime. Perhaps the healthy way for Jackson to resolve his issue is to talk things through with his father.

No Conflict of Interest

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Thanks to Talia, John did not have to rush completing arrests, unlike the other rookies. However, when his best friend, Ben McRee (Currie Graham) becomes victim to an assault and grand theft auto, John desperately tried to be off desk duty. Luckily, Wolfe let him ride along with him. Wolfe worked on the carnapping syndicate for quite some time, and they now have a chance to end the case. Using a bait car, John and Wolfe trap the carnapper, the same man who assaulted and stole Ben’s car.

To teach John a lesson, Wolfe brings him in the mission to arrest the syndicate’s leader. In exchange for freedom, the carnapper agreed to take them to their hideout. John found this hard to accept at first, but it does not impair him from doing his job right. After chasing the leader on foot, John arrests him for everyone to see, including the carnapper.

When John returns home from work, he finally realizes Wolfe’s lesson for him. Also, he comforts and provides Ben advise in dealing with the trauma. Indeed, John has a preoccupation with solving other people’s problems, regardless of the risks or consequences they pose.

Toe-to-Toe with The Chief

Inevitably, Talia knew that she had to face the truth about her brother. With his arrest in the previous episode, Talia came clean with Sergeant Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones), who accompanied her in the hearing at the Police Chief’s office. Things were not going well for Talia as they discussed multiple occasions that to Police Chief Williams (Stephen Lang) are incidents of negligence. In an attempt to sway Chief Williams’ decision on her case, John rushes in and talks to the Chief about how Talia guided him in his journey as the oldest rookie by far. His speech seemed to have worked as Detective Elena Ruiz (Valerie Cruz) visited Talia at the station personally, informing her that they made a decision. However, this came with strings attached: Talia would keep her job if she agrees to be Internal Affairs’ mole in the LAPD. It sounded terrible, but she has little choice.

‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 19 ‘The Checklist’ Final Verdict

All three rookies have undergone tremendous changes throughout the entirety of the season. Experiences greatly improved their skills and numerous life lessons found their ways to LAPD’s young trio. Now that the season is drawing to a close, each three of them are set to face a defining exam for their career. This episode, however, makes it feel like the rookies are rushing and not preparing well. Still, one can only hope that their performance, in the end, will be excellent, especially since their journey has undoubtedly made its mark on the viewers.

The Rookie continues Tuesday, April 14th with ‘Freefall’ at 10/9c on ABC.